Electronic Circuit Design Single Stage Transistor Amplifier

Common Base: In electronics, a common-base (also known as grounded-base) amplifier is one of three basic single-stage bipolar junction transistor (BJT) amplifier topologies, typically used as a current buffer or voltage amplifier. In this circuit the emitter terminal of the transistor serves as the input, the collector the output, and the base is connected to ground, or "common," hence its name. The analogous field-effect transistor circuit is the common-gate amplifier.

Fig.1 Common Collector: In electronics, a common-collector amplifier (also known as an emitter follower or BJT voltage follower) is one of three basic single-stage bipolar junction transistor(BJT) amplifier topologies, typically used as a voltage buffer. In this circuit the base terminal of the transistor serves as the input, the emitter is the output, and the collector is common to both (for example, it may be tied to ground reference or a power supply rail), hence its name. The analogous field-effect transistor circuit is the common-drain amplifier.

Fig.1

Fig.2

The circuit can be explained by viewing the transistor as being under the control of negative feedback. From this viewpoint, a common-collector stage (Fig. 1) is an amplifier with full series negative feedback. In this configuration (Fig. 2 with = 1), the entire output voltage VOUT is placed contrary and in series with the input voltage VIN. Thus the two voltages are subtracted according to KVL (the subtractor from the function block diagram is implemented just by the input loop) and their difference Vdiff = VIN - VOUT is applied to the base-emitter junction. The transistor monitors continuously Vdiff and adjusts its emitter voltage almost equal (less VBEO) to the input voltage by passing the according collector
Syed Zulfiqar Haider Bukhari (11TC51) Page 1

Electronic Circuit Design

current through the emitter resistor RE. As a result, the output voltage follows the input voltage variations from VBEO up to V+; hence the name, emitter follower. Intuitively, this behavior can be also understood by realizing that the base-emitter voltage in the bipolar transistor is very insensitive to bias changes, so any change in base voltage is transmitted (to good approximation) directly to the emitter. It depends slightly on various disturbances (transistor tolerances, temperature variations, load resistance, collector resistor if it is added, etc.) since the transistor reacts to these disturbances and restores the equilibrium. It never saturates even if the input voltage reaches the positive rail. The common collector circuit can be shown mathematically to have a voltage gain of almost unity:

A small voltage change on the input terminal will be replicated at the output (depending slightly on the transistor's gain and the value of the load resistance; see gain formula below). This circuit is useful because it has a large input impedance, so it will not load down the previous circuit: and a small output impedance, so it can drive low-resistance loads: Fig.3

Typically, the emitter resistor is significantly larger and can be removed from the equation:

Common Emitter: In electronics, a common-emitter amplifier is one of three basic singlestage bipolar-junction-transistor (BJT) amplifier topologies, typically used as a voltage amplifier. In this circuit the base terminal of the transistor serves as the input, the collector is the output, and the emitter is common to both (for example, it may be tied toground reference or a power supply rail), hence its name. The analogous field-effect transistor circuit is the common-source amplifier, and the analogous tube circuit is the common-cathode amplifier.

Fig.1

Fig.2

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Electronic Circuit Design

Common-emitter amplifiers give the amplifier an inverted output and can have a very high gain that may vary widely from one transistor to the next. The gain is a strong function of both temperature and bias current, and so the actual gain is somewhat unpredictable. Stability is another problem associated with such high gain circuits due to any unintentional positive feedback that may be present. Other problems associated with the circuit are the low input dynamic range imposed by the small-signal limit; there is high distortion if this limit is exceeded and the transistor ceases to behave like its small-signal model. One common way of alleviating these issues is with the use of negative feedback, which is usually implemented with emitter degeneration. Emitter degeneration refers to the addition of a small resistor (or anyimpedance) between the emitter and the common signal source (e.g., the ground reference or a power supply rail). This impedance reduces the overalltransconductance of the circuit by a factor of , which makes the voltage gain

So the voltage gain depends almost exclusively on the ratio of the resistors

rather

than the transistor's intrinsic and unpredictable characteristics. Thedistortion and stability characteristics of the circuit are thus improved at the expense of a reduction in gain.

Syed Zulfiqar Haider Bukhari (11TC51)

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